Reviews

Baseball Grinds Fans Whereas Soccer Grinds Players

8/19/2014

July 4: Neymar Down With a Broken Back

The contrast between baseball and soccer, my two favorite sports, was never more apparent than this past week.

With baseball acknowledging the yawning length of games – now over three hours and getting worse – soccer returned (was it ever away?) in Europe with matches under two hours.

This is a huge advantage for soccer. A fan can commit to a match, or even half a match, without falling into a slack-jawed stupor in front of one of those four-hour Sunday-night horrors the Yanks always seem to be playing.

I made the decision last Saturday morning that I could afford to watch the first half of Manchester United and was rewarded with the delicious sense that it was 2013-14 all over again. (Man U, lost, 2-1.) Then I came back from chores to watch the second half of Everton, with Tim Howard picking up where he left off for the USA in the World Cup, trying to overcome a weak back four. (Everton coughed up a tying goal, late.)

Two welcome chunks of the Premiership, and it was not yet noon.

Meantime, baseball is acknowledging that the average time of a game has gone from 2 hours 35 minutes to 3 hours 2 minutes 47 seconds -- the longest on record, according to Tyler Kepner in the Times.

One reason the games get longer was noted by Howard Kitt, once a promising lefty in the Yankee chain, who has been a specialist in antitrust issues with a keen eye on sports business. (I covered him helping win county titles in basketball and baseball at Oceanside High around 1960.)

Kitt, who advanced as high as AAA ball, listed one cause of long games – “the number of pitching changes per game, especially in the late innings.

“When I played, there were three categories of pitchers: starters, long relievers and short relievers. Starters were expected to finish; long relievers were used when a starter didn't have it; and short relievers were used when a starter ran out of gas and/or when a fresh arm was needed to finish a tight game. Closers? Never hoid of 'em!

“Now, the last three innings frequently take at least as long as the first six because of the number of pitching changes by each side. Think about it: A manager walks out to the mound; signals for a reliever; who comes in from somewhere beyond the outfield fence; who then proceeds to take eight warmup pitches (hardly necessary simply to get a feel for the mound, given that the pitcher is already warm); after which--finally--the game resumes. Multiply that time two or three times per team, and some real time elapses (this can easily be verified with a stopwatch).”

Kitt, who understands the importance of commercials in televised sports, added: “If this is required by TV sponsors, understood; if not, limit the number of changes per inning and watch the game speed up.”

Asked about the number of pitchers who seem to fall apart these days, Kitt cited the high salaries since free agency. Players don’t have to take off-season jobs as they did back in the 60’s and can work out virtually all year. Do their bodies ever really rest?

However, no sport grinds its players down more greedily than soccer. We saw Champions League-level players trudge into the World Cup in early June and many of them were still slogging into July. A few weeks after the final, my favorite-named player, Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany, flew across the world for a meaningless friendly and was creamed by a red-hot player from Major League Soccer. Now he’s out six weeks.

Soccer, under the see-no-evil “leadership” of Sepp Blatter, does not care. On Monday, Neymar of Brazil, last seen writhing on the grass with a broken back on July 4, was running around Camp Nou on Barcelona, along with his new playmate, Luis Suarez, he of the health-hazard choppers.

I know Suarez is suspended from some league and national matches, but shouldn’t he be banned from going out in public until he is trained?

On Tuesday, some of the lads were playing in an early round of the Champions League.

But at least soccer league matches are over in two hours, whereas baseball could be dawdling toward irrelevancy.

August 18: Miracle Cure. Neymar Can Dance Again.

Alan Rubin

8/19/2014 10:49:13 am

George

I’m going to pass on your comprehensive comments on baseball other than comment that I once took my teenage son and nephew to a Met-Cardinal daytime double header that lasted four hours, including intermission.

More and more I am coming to the collusion that soccer, if it ever gets good FIFA leadership, would benefit by strictly enforcing their rules. Although it is impossible to limit everything, most fouls should be called and be uniformly enforced.

Shirt pulling, cheap late hits, excessive and unnecessary body contact, to name a few should be, as much as possible, eliminated from the game. It would open up the game, much as is evident in the women’s game, and increase the enjoyment. Players would be free to show their skills with less concern for injury.

Once the players understand that the referees will enforce the rules, they will adjust.

Many things on my list boarder on wishful thinking, but not this! If the will is there, it can happen.

Less likely, but still possible, schedule games and tournaments with the player’s well-being in mind! FIFA, the leagues and owners may make a little less money, but they would be protecting their investment—the players.

George Vecsey

8/19/2014 01:27:12 pm

Alan, you have a good point. None of that will happen under Blatter, who cannot exhibit leadership because he is so tied up in the politics and money of soccer. His regime was labelled "careless" by a judge in Munich. I would add, at best.
GV

Howard Kitt

8/20/2014 04:33:00 am

Perhaps some of the reluctance can be traced to the draconian nature of the red card (or two yellows, whichever comes first).

If, like in baseball, there were a kind of game misconduct, where an offending player would be ejected while a team could substitute, i.e., not be required to play the balance of the game short-handed, referees would be less reluctant to enforce the existing rules.

On the other hand, imagine a red-card-type penalty in baseball--or football and basketball, for that matter!

Alternatively, perhaps a kind of limited short-handed penalty, like in hockey and lacrosse, could work.

Alan Rubin

8/20/2014 07:32:47 am

Howard

It is always difficult to change or modify existing cultures, but you have raised some interesting possibilities.

Why only three substitutions during a game? Why not free substitution? Why can’t an injured player be replaced after the third substitution had been made?

Are the yellow and red cards truly a deterrent?

Recently, there has been considerable attention to soccer statics. Two good examples are:

“Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey--and Even Iraq--Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular “by Simon Kuper andStefan Szymansi

and

“The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer Is Wrong” by Chris Anderson and David Sally.

As interesting as they are, I do not recall seeing anything about the effectiveness of yellow and red cards. Has there been any serious analysis on effective ways to improve soccer? What would deter excessively dangerous plays and consistent fouling? Is there an alternative to punitive action to control the game?

Opening up the game, which would go against many longstanding traditions, could address George’s player burnout concerns.

Why must most players run for 90 minutes without a rest? Why can’t injured players return? It gives team doctors ample time to evaluate players and determine if they are fit or not.

A team should not have to be a man down during this process.

If players can be freely substituted, younger players will gain valuable experience and not stagnate on the bench or be loaned out.

Howard, it is definitely time to look outside of the box.

Josh

8/20/2014 08:57:17 am

As the above-referenced son, I'll just add that the Mets' opponent was the Phillies, that the twi-night doubleheader in question was in the midst of the Mets' amazing late summer drive for the division and then world series in 1969, that the Mets took both games, and that we were repeatedly showered by peanut shells tossed by an inconsiderate fan in the upper deck.

Carry on.

howard kitt

8/20/2014 08:35:19 am

Alan

I couldn't agree more--in addition, open substitution would obviate the need for game-deciding penalty kicks and allow a decision to be made on the field. Much the same holds for the rejection of sudden death ("golden goal") in overtime. In the US, unlimited substitution is the norm through college.

Unfortunately, like Tevye said in "Fiddler On The Roof," "You ask 'Why?...I don't know...but it's a tradition!" And as you note, traditions are very
hard to alter.

I've seen nothing to date about the effectiveness about the effect of yellow and red cards. Some sort of trial or experimental period would help to address that--but I'm not optimistic that FIFA would permit it. So, also, with replay

PS: I suspect that penalty kicks also make referees, at the margin, reluctant to call penalties in the penalty box--akin to what is said about hockey referees' reluctance to call penalties in the waning minutes of a close game.

PSS: I see that George neglected to mention that I also played center-half on Oceanside's first Nassau County championship soccer team-- with Art Heyman in goal. Shame on him!

George Vecsey

8/20/2014 09:22:40 am

Howard, my bad. I covered both the BB and BKB finals for Newsday...and I casually looked up Section 8 champions in soccer, and saw Oceanside won in 58 and 63...you must have been a sophomore in 58? I knew you and Art Heyman had played on a good team. sorry, George

http://www.newsday.com/sports/high-school/long-island-boys-soccer-champions-1.1277062

howard kitt

8/20/2014 09:39:00 am

Just giving you some gas--what are friends for?

It's listed as 1958 because it occurred in the Fall of the 58-59 school year. Art and I were both seniors then.

George Vecsey

8/20/2014 09:41:23 am

I still think the scariest thing I ever saw covering high school sports was Art Heyman with that wild smile wielding scissors to cut down the net at the top of a 10-foot ladder. G

howard kitt

8/20/2014 10:22:23 am

I was underneath him--how do you think I felt?

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